The undercover agents in 'The Americans' leave us in the cold in new FX spy series

Keri Russell as Elizabeth Jennings and Matthew Rhys as Philip Jennings in a scene from the new FX series, "The Americans."FX

TV REVIEW

"The Americans"

What: Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell star in this cable drama about KGB spies posing as an American couple during the Cold War.

When: 10 p.m. Wednesday

Where: FX

FX's "The Americans" is a hit-and-miss drama that hits its stride whenever Noah Emmerich is on screen as FBI agent Stan Beeman. Here is a splendidly nuanced performance that's not only worthy of your attention, it commands your attention.

There's just one slight problem. Although standing head and shoulders above the other players in this spy-vs.-spy chess match, Stan isn't the main character in "The Americans." He isn't one of the two people we're supposed to find the most fascinating in this uneven suspense series premiering at 10 p.m. Wednesday.

And yet, the other characters never seem as interesting as when they are sharing scenes with Stan. That's merely one of many off-kilter elements keeping this FX newcomer from achieving a consistency in tone, pacing and plot.

The people we are supposed to find so darn intriguing are Philip and Elizabeth Jennings (Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell), KGB spies living near Washington, D.C., in 1981. To their friends and neighbors, Philip and Elizabeth are the image of suburban domestic bliss.

They run a successful travel agency. They are devoted parents to two children: 13-year-old Paige (Holly Taylor) and 10-year-old Henry (Keidrich Sellati). They are a picture-perfect snapshot of the American dream come true.

But they are not Americans. They are highly trained agents of the Soviet Union. They are enemies of America and what it stands for.

So why should we care so much about Philip and Elizabeth? Well, waiting around every corner is a new moral dilemma fashioned by the show's creator, lead writer and executive producer, Joe Weisberg. Philip, in particular, is beginning to wonder what's so bad about the American way of life. If not quite seduced, he is being tempted.

They've been playing Philip and Elizabeth so long, the lines are beginning to blur. They're also beginning to question the missions being thrown at them. And they're beginning to dwell on what will happen to their children if they're caught.

Paige and Henry don't know their parents go all Boris and Natasha when nobody is looking. As part of the cover, Paige and Henry are being brought up as patriotic Americans.

While this is potentially rich dramatic territory, the scripts don't dig much past the surface level where our KGB couple is concerned. They aren't terribly well-developed characters.

Their back stories aren't all that compelling. Their bickering isn't what you'd call spellbinding. And their attempts to connect with the children make for less than riveting drama.

Russell fares better than Rhys, having a bit more motivation to play in the first two episodes. But neither character has the depth or subtle shadings to ring true in a way that will resonate throughout an ongoing thriller.

It may be unfair, but compare Philip and Elizabeth to Carrie and Brody, two lead characters from another cable drama about high-stakes espionage. Watching Showtime's "Homeland," even when the story goes awry, we're endlessly fascinated by Carrie and Brody and what's going on behind those concerned, tortured and ambiguous looks.

That's not the case with Philip and Elizabeth. The exposition is so clunky and obvious, we feel as if "The Americans" already is telling us too much about them. Do we really want to know more? Can they challenge us to solve the mystery of their complex psyches?

That sense of wonder is inspired by Stan, who has moved in the house across the street from Philip and Elizabeth. Emmerich is so good in the role, we almost let this contrivance slip by.

Stan and his partner, agent Chris Amadaor (Maximiliano Hernandez), have been assigned to the FBI's counterintelligence task force. Their mission is to locate foreign agents in the United States, including, of course, KGB spies posing as Americans.

Having spent years undercover infiltrating a white supremacist group, Stan finds it difficult to suppress his suspicious nature. But he is unaware that the very people he is searching for are living across the street.

The Cold War drama heats up whenever Emmerich's Stan is around. This is a deceptively powerful performance, slyly understated yet intense. When Stan raises a dubious eyebrow, it packs more meaning than all the yelling, crying, arguing, soul-searching and emotional pyrotechnics served up by Philip and Elizabeth.

Stan is everything Philip should be. Stan, without question, is meant to be a strong presence, but Philip shouldn't seem to fade before our eyes when Stan is in the scene.

Making the lawman your lead character wouldn't have been a daring choice for Weisberg and his team, however, and "The Americans" wins points for taking a bold conceptual chance.

"The Americans" also boasts several exciting, atmospherically filmed sequences. Still, although it can race along with the dash and flair of a Hitchcock puzzler, the erratic FX series fails to sustain the pace and mood. It works up a full head of steam, then goes off the rails.

It is by no means a complete misfire, but, with FX, anything less than bull's-eye is a disappointment in the drama field. This is the channel that has given us "The Shield," "Damages," "Rescue Me," "Justified" and "American Horror Story." The expectations are dizzyingly high for "The Americans," and they should be.

That's the daunting realization facing Philip and Elizabeth as they try to make a home on FX. Welcome to the neighborhood, folks. Your deep-cover saga will need to dig deeper if you want to put down roots.

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